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Throughout her novel, The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses symbolism and imagery to portray the main characters emergence into a state of spiritual awareness. ... The protagonist, Edna, wants that freedom, and with images of the sea, Chopin shows Ednas awakening desire to be free and her ultimate achievement of that freedom. Right from the beginning of the novella, Edna ponders what her life is like and what she is like as a person. But Edna finds out that it is something about her marriage in which there is “no trace of passion or excessive and fictitious warmth” (Chopin 18) is not allowing her to achieve fulfillment. To achieve this fulfillment, Chopin uses the images of sea to help Edna breaks the coffin in which she is living, and march towards a new destiny, a totally new imaginary world where every aspect of life is possible. The sensuous touch of sea constantly beckons and seduces Edna and throughout the novella it portrays the main character’s strength, glory, independence and rebirth.
The imagery of the water at Chęničre Caminada and of the ocean at Grand Isle essentially symbolizes a force calling Edna to challenge her internal struggles, and find freedom from society. Before her awakening, Edna is afraid of abandoning herself to the sea’s embrace. The sea is always the deepest and the most mysterious place Edna has ever explored. ... Even though “Edna was not a mother-woman” (Chopin 8), but still whenever she descends to the beach, she is described as a “little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who . ... Early in The Awakening, the sea is described as “seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude” (Chopin 14), represents truth and loneliness, a vast expanse of solitude and vulnerability that Edna has long been afraid to enter.
Approximate Word count = 1480
Approximate Pages = 5.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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